“We’ve been calling him the road course king the last few years, we might want to change that to concrete king!” – Marty Snider on Kyle Larson

“Every race is almost impossible to predict…That’s great for race fans and unfortunately pressure-packed for the competitors.” – Steve Letarte on the 2022 NASCAR Season

Dolly Parton Starred in Opening Tease of Race Coverage

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – June 26, 2022 – Chase Elliott of Hendrick Motorsports took the checkered flag in the NASCAR Cup Series Ally 400, as NBC Sports began its coverage of the 2022 NASCAR season this weekend at Nashville Superspeedway.

NBC and Peacock presented coverage of the Ally 400 for the opening 140 laps of the race. Due to a lengthy weather delay, race coverage concluded on USA Network and Peacock beginning at 10 p.m. ET.

Two-time Daytona 500 champion and NASCAR Hall of Fame driver Dale Earnhardt Jr., 21-time Cup Series race winner and “The Mayor” of NASCAR Jeff Burton, and Daytona 500-winning crew chief Steve Letarte served as analysts for the race with lead NASCAR race announcer Rick Allen. Marty Snider, Dave Burns and Parker Kligerman reported from pit lane.

NASCAR Hall of Fame driver Dale Jarrett and JTG Daugherty Racing team owner Brad Daugherty anchored studio coverage with Snider from the Peacock Pit Box.

NBC Sports’ Rutledge Wood served as a “CityView” reporter and shared stories from Nashville’s famous Tootsie’s Orchid Lounge to highlight the atmosphere and excitement around the race on Broadway in Music City.

RACE RESULTS

Race coverage from Nashville Superspeedway featured:

• Dolly Parton: Tennessee native and music icon Dolly Parton starred in NBC Sports’ opening tease. Click here to view the piece.
• Keith Urban: Throughout the past month, four-time GRAMMY© Award winner Keith Urban helped kick off NBC Sports’ NASCAR promotional campaign featuring music inspired by his hit single Wild Hearts filmed at Tootsie’s Orchid Lounge. Click here for more details.
• Trackhouse Racing: A feature on Trackhouse Racing’s success this season with Daniel Suarez, coming off his historic first career victory at the Toyota Save Mart 350, Ross Chastain, and co-owner Justin Marks with Marty Snider filmed at Tootsie’s Orchid Lounge.

Following are highlights from today’s NASCAR Cup Series race coverage on NBC and Peacock:

Snider on Chase Elliott: “We’ve been calling him the road course king the last few years, we might want to change that to concrete king!”

Earnhardt Jr. on Elliott: “It’s been some frustrating times for Chase Elliott…He’s remained patient. He’s got a great crew chief and a great crew around him. He knew they’d figure it out.”

Letarte on the 2022 NASCAR season: “Every race is almost impossible to predict. Some teams are better than others, but it’s not consistent week in and week out…That’s great for race fans and unfortunately pressure-packed for the competitors.”

Earnhardt Jr. on how the delay will affect the racetrack: “It won’t handle the same way. It’s been really hot throughout the afternoon. I’m not sure what type of racetrack we’ll have going forward. Some of these teams are going to have to work hard.”

Burton on the driver’s mentality following a delay: “You’ve got to get your mind back in this race. You’ve been out of the car for a long time, it’s been hot, you’ve got to get yourself re-focused.”

Earnhardt Jr. on down shifting into the braking zone: “I never loved it. We did this at Pocono (Raceway) for years. Down shifting with your hand off the wheel and braking into a corner. All of those things — it’s like rubbing your belly and patting your head. You can’t do it.”

Jarrett on racing during hot weather: “I worked really hard at hydrating myself, putting on six to eight pounds of water weight during the week starting Wednesday to get to Sunday and get ready because you’re going to lose 10-12 pounds out here this afternoon. These drivers have their hands full with the first time in this heat in this new Next Gen car.”

Earnhardt Jr. on the legacy of Bruton Smith: “Outside of the France family, I don’t know anybody who has had a bigger role in growing the sport…He leaves an incredible legacy…Without him, I don’t think the sport gets challenged to grow in the directions it went.”

Burton on Smith: “He had a goal of showcasing what NASCAR can be…The professionalism that Brut and his group brought to our sport in regards to racetracks — creating that show for the fans, always wanted the fans to be first.”

Jarrett on Smith: “We could do a whole show on the impact he’s had on the sport, the innovation…He was ahead of his time and made the sport better.”

The official home of the NASCAR Championship and Playoffs, NBC Sports will once again present the final 20 NASCAR Cup Series races and 19 NASCAR Xfinity Series races in 2022 across NBC, Peacock and USA Network, culminating with the Championship at Phoenix Raceway on Nov. 5-6. Click here for more information on NBC Sports’ 2022 NASCAR coverage.

–NBC SPORTS–

Parton Stars in Opening Tease Capturing Excitement of NASCAR Returning to NBC Sports in the “Music City”

VIEW 30-SECOND CLIP HERE

STAMFORD, Conn. – June 23, 2022 – Global music icon Dolly Parton stars in NBC Sports’ tease ahead of its NASCAR Cup Series season opener at Nashville Superspeedway this Sunday, June 26, at 5 p.m. ET on NBC and Peacock.

Parton appears and narrates the opening segment that sets the stage for the 2022 NASCAR season on NBC, which begins in Nashville. Filmed at NOZ Entertainment, Parton shares the drive and dedication to her craft in becoming a star in the backdrop of the capital of country music — “Music City.” Click here for a 30-second tease.

“Dolly was gracious enough to spend time with our production team appearing on-camera and voicing this special opening tease for Sunday’s race. Who better to welcome NASCAR fans from across the country than Tennessee native and country music superstar Dolly Parton.” said Jeff Behnke, Vice President, Motorsports Production, NBC Sports.

On Sunday, Parton’s hit song Run will also be featured during NBC Sports’ on-air race coverage.

NASCAR returns to NBC Sports this weekend at Nashville Superspeedway with the Ally 400 Cup Series race on Sunday, June 26, at 5 p.m. ET on NBC and Peacock (pre-race coverage begins at 4 p.m. ET exclusively on Peacock). The Tennessee Lottery 250 Xfinity Series race will be presented on Saturday, June 25, with Countdown to Green at 3 p.m. ET on USA Network, leading into race coverage at 3:30 p.m. ET.

NBC Sports will present a total of 39 races (20 Cup, 19 Xfinity) across NBC and USA Network in 2022. The final six races of the Cup Series Playoffs will be shown on NBC, including the Championship Race in Phoenix on Nov. 6, while USA Network debuts as NBC Sports’ cable home of NASCAR with more than 25 Cup and Xfinity Races.

About Dolly Parton:

Dolly Parton is the most honored and revered female country singer-songwriter of all time. Achieving 25 RIAA-certified gold, platinum, and multi-platinum awards, she has had 26 songs reach #1 on the Billboard country charts, a record for a female artist. Recently, Parton reached #1 on the Billboard Christian Airplay Chart for the first time for her duet with Grammy award-winning Zach Williams of “There Was Jesus,” for which they won a Grammy this year, making that her 11^th Grammy win.   She received her first Dove Award for short form video for her collaboration with for King & Country on the song “God Only Knows.” Parton is the first artist to have topped the Billboard’s Adult Contemporary, Christian AC Songs, Hot Country Songs, Christian Airplay, Country Airplay and Dance/Mix Show Airplay radio charts. Parton recently became the first country artist honored as Grammy MusiCares Person of the Year given out by NARAS. She has 47 career Top 10 country albums, a record for any artist, and 110 career-charted singles over the past 50+ years.

In 2014 the RIAA recognized her impact on recorded music with a plaque commemorating more than 100 million units sold worldwide. Her 2016 #1 album, “Pure & Simple,” which topped the Billboard Top Country Albums and Americana/Folk Albums charts and debuted at No. 1 in the U.S., Canada, U.K. and Australia, added to that massive tally. She has garnered eleven Grammy Awards and 50 nominations, including the Lifetime Achievement Award and a 2020 win with for KING & COUNTRY for their collaboration on “God Only Knows”; 10 Country Music Association Awards, including Entertainer of the Year; five Academy of Country Music Awards, also including a nod for Entertainer of the Year; four People’s Choice Awards; and three American Music Awards. In 1999, Parton was inducted as a member of the coveted Country Music Hall of Fame.

In 2020, she released the Christmas album “A Holly Dolly Christmas” which went #1 on the Billboard Country and Holiday charts, as well released the bestselling coffee table book “Songteller: My Life in Lyrics.”  In 2021, she won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Television Movie for the film “Dolly Parton’s Christmas on the Square” and this December 2022, she will be releasing on NBC an all-new original holiday movie called “Dolly Parton’s Mountain Magic Christmas” which she is starring in as well as producing.

To date, Parton has donated over 182 million books to children around the world with her Imagination Library. Her children’s book, Coat of Many Colors, was dedicated to the Library of Congress to honor the Imagination Library’s 100 millionth book donation. In March of 2022, Parton released the book Run Rose Run which she co-authored with James Patterson which sat # 1 on the New York Times Bestseller’s List for 5 weeks, a record for this decade.  She also released an accompanying album of the same name with original songs inspired by the book which reached #1 on three charts simultaneously  — Country, Americana/Folk and Bluegrass Albums.  From her “Coat of Many Colors” while working “9 to 5,” no dream is too big and no mountain too high for the country girl who turned the world into her stage.

—NBC SPORTS—

“The storylines are just truly abundant with all of the variety, the new teams, the success on and off the racetrack…that are making this year fascinating.” – Steve Letarte on 2022 NASCAR Season

“He’s got a really amazing story…Daniel’s story is descriptive of a Hollywood movie. He’s a great person to cheer for.” – Dale Earnhardt Jr. on Daniel Suarez’s Historic Victory

“I really expect the racing to be even better on the track with these Next Gen cars this year… It hasn’t disappointed anywhere this year, and I don’t think it will this weekend either.” – Dale Jarrett on NASCAR Returning to Nashville for Second Consecutive Year

NASCAR Returns to NBC this Weekend at Nashville Superspeedway

STAMFORD, Conn. – June 22, 2022 – NBC Sports NASCAR analysts Dale Earnhardt Jr., Dale Jarrett, Jeff Burton, Steve Letarte, and NBC Sports Executive Producer Sam Flood previewed the upcoming second half of the 2022 NASCAR season on a media conference call yesterday, Tuesday, June 21.

For a complete transcript, click here. Following are highlights from the call:

Sam Flood on NBC Sports’ upcoming NASCAR coverage: “We’re going to be really reaching into the fans … (We’re) going to have some more fun with drones and Bat Cam. We’re going to have a new robotic camera on the pace car that’s going to be a part of every Cup race where we’ve got a new home on USA, and [we] can’t wait to be a part of the USA/NBC world…A lot of excitement and energy coming to USA…making USA the home of NASCAR for the second half of the season.”

Steve Letarte on the drama heading into the second half of the 2022 NASCAR season: “The storylines are just truly abundant with all of the variety, the new teams, the success on and off the racetrack…There’s just so many different aspects, both technical and personal, that are making this year fascinating.”

Dale Jarrett: “We couldn’t ask for a better handoff and better scenario to be literally put there right in front of us with everything, the excitement about the sport right now, the new car which has far exceeded any expectations I may have had of the car… I applaud NASCAR.”

Jeff Burton: “Every stage matters, every race finish matters, and it’s all happening at the same time you have this incredible change in the sport with this new car and the quality of racing through the roof. The intensity and aggressiveness…is through the roof, and it just makes everything that much more important.”

Dale Earnhardt Jr. on what Daniel Suarez’s historic victory means for the sport: “Aside from the fact that he’s just a great guy and a really nice guy and a person to be around, but he’s just got a really amazing story… Daniel’s story is descriptive of a Hollywood movie. He’s a great person to cheer for and a good dude to support, but globally the sport needs international flair and different drivers from different parts of the world competing and being successful.”

Jarrett on NASCAR’s return to Nashville for a second consecutive season: “I really expect the racing to be even better on the track with these Next Gen cars this year, but the level of excitement was almost unmatched from the fan side of it, and even from the competitors, for being able to go to a new venue…  I think the full experience is something that we have to look at, and the racing will take care of itself. It hasn’t disappointed anywhere this year, and I don’t think it will this weekend either.”

Earnhardt Jr. on Ross Chastain’s 2022 season thus far: “Hopefully for us as viewers going forward, he continues to put on a show. He’s one of the best things going right now for the sport in terms of entertainment. He’s got a little personality to him, which is always important. I hope for our sake that he continues all of his ambitious moments going forward, and especially once we get into the playoffs and it really starts to count and matter.”

***

NBC Sports kicks into gear its portion of the 2022 NASCAR Cup and Xfinity Series this weekend at Nashville Superspeedway. Over three days, NBC Sports will present nearly 15 hours of practice, qualifying and race coverage for the Cup and Xfinity Series across NBC, Peacock and USA Network.

NASCAR Cup Series Countdown to Green pre-race coverage will get underway in Nashville Sunday at 4 p.m. ET exclusively on Peacock leading into Ally 400 race coverage beginning at 5 p.m. ET on NBC and Peacock. Peacock will present post-race coverage immediately following the checkered flag at 9 p.m. ET.

Countdown to Green ahead of the NASCAR Xfinity Series Tennessee Lottery 250 gets underway Saturday at 3 p.m. ET on USA Network, leading into race coverage at 3:30 p.m. ET. Post-race coverage will begin at 6 p.m. ET on USA Network. Click here for more details.

Below is a schedule for this weekend’s NASCAR coverage in Nashville on NBC, Peacock and USA Network:

—NBC SPORTS—